Can Happy Feelings Trigger Emotional Eating Too?
n a recent study published in the journal Appetite, researchers examined associations between positive and negative emotional eating, food cravings, and recent weight loss, and identified strategies participants found helpful for managing emotional eating.
Background: As of 2022, over a billion people around the world were living with obesity, highlighting the global challenge of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Emotional eating can occur in response to distressing emotions (sadness, anxiety) or positive ones (happiness, excitement). Food cravings may further complicate weight management by making dietary control difficult.
While weight loss programs promote healthy eating and exercise, sustaining weight loss remains difficult. Understanding psychological barriers and practical coping strategies may help address these difficulties; further research is needed to clarify how emotional eating relates to long-term weight-management outcomes.
Excerpted from News Medical Life Sciences
